Future History

Found this while cleaning up old files.

The Hebrew word for ‘forward’ is built from a root meaning to ‘look back’. The idea being that to move ahead you must clearly see where you have been. Imagine rowing a boat, facing the rear while moving forward. This concept appeals to me.

I have a friend who works for a company dedicated to bringing technological advances to the corporate and educational worlds. Sometime I travel with her. I am on one of those trips now, and it’s proving to be a “walk about” of sorts for me. While she is scheduled in one meeting after another I’ve had time to explore and wonder.

The other day we were each working and while she researched the latest and greatest in technological applications for educational advancement, I found myself buried up to my eyeballs in archeological discoveries from the ancient cities of Ephesus, Sardis, and Hierapolis. Oh the irony!

Yesterday I had some time to wander from one art museum to another and although able to appreciate effort and technique I found myself at a complete loss when it came to connecting with the artist’s message. The meanings of the dots and hash-marks of the super ancient Australian Aboriginal language proved just as impossible for me to grasp as were the exhibits of modern art. Maybe I was trying too hard. Maybe I lack imagination. Maybe my heart doesn’t struggle to communicate the questions those particular artists were addressing. Or maybe the message was in the exercise itself. Maybe I am overdue for a looking-back-to-move-forward type of experience. Maybe you are too.

When God instructed humans to take a day to rest, it’s important to remember that those people had been enslaved for over 400 years. Rest, I imagine, was a concept so foreign in their minds that it must certainly have felt wrong, bad or even dangerous. But to get the clear picture of God’s desire for their future moving forward, all they had to do was look back and let His wisdom redefine their purpose.

As you move ahead, take some time to look back. What worked? What didn’t work? What has been forgotten that deserves to be resurrected? What needs to be set aside so something else might flourish? It’s not wise to set up camp back there but maybe the key to your future can be found by consciously reflecting and carefully negotiating your past.